Air transport: a recovery that is slow to spread its wings

The most recent year in air transportation is ending the same way it started: with many promises and very few concrete solutions for citizens and organizations in the field.

Between the vagaries of weather and runway conditions, the renewal of the fleet of one of the carriers and the turnover of pilot crews, Magdalen Islanders have had to deal with numerous flight delays, postponements and cancellations.

Promised nearly two years ago and unveiled with great fanfare by the Minister of Transport in April, the plan to revive the airline industry has two components: flights between the regions and major centers at a cost of $250 and the continuation of emergency assistance until March 2023.

The new measures, which came into effect on June 1, were greeted with disappointment by Islands MLA Joel Arseneau, but welcomed by Mayor Jonathan Lapierre, a potential candidate for the Coalition avenir Québec in the October 3 general election.

Reliability of services was once again in the news when the case of radiologist David Landry, who had to cancel 58 medical imaging and pain management appointments due to the cancellation of an Air Canada flight, was publicized.

PAL Airlines and Pascan Aviation representatives have now committed to reducing the delays by the fall, the former pointing out that the situation is similar in other airports across the country, the latter highlighting the hiring of a mechanic in the Islands.

Discussions earlier this year around the launch of the TREQ cooperative were ultimately unsuccessful.

Like the federal government, the Member of Parliament for the Islands urged Quebec to support the company’s business model. The government quickly closed the door, expressing several reservations.

At the end of the year, the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) deplored the fact that only 15% of the $500 return tickets had been sold, a situation attributable to the lack of reliability on the routes, according to its president, the mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté.

However, the archipelago is the destination at the top of the list of users of the new program, representing a little less than 30% of some 19,000 tickets sold to date.